WILMINGTON — The Wilmington City Council has voted to name a bridge on the Gary Shell Cross-City Trail in honor of Mike Alford.

Alford has been the region’s representative to the N.C. Board of Transportation since his appointment on Feb. 4, 2010.

On Tuesday, Mayor Pro Tem Earl Sheridan said the council’s naming committee met to discuss naming portions of the trail after people. Before they could finish deliberating, city staff said they were working to create a sponsorship policy governing when and where sponsors can be recognized. City staff advised the council to delay further naming of areas along the trail until that policy was completed, likely in April.

“However we did decide to make one exception,” Sheridan said, adding that the naming is “time sensitive” because Alford is leaving the position.

On Feb. 4, Gov. Pat McCrory appointed Michael Lee, a Wilmington attorney, as the DOT’s board member from Division 3, which covers Wilmington and surrounding counties.

Sheridan, reading Tuesday from the resolution, said Alford worked tirelessly on transportation projects benefiting the area.

Before the vote, Councilwoman Laura Padgett, the chairwoman of the area’s Transportation Advisory Committee, which Alford served on, said it was a privilege to work with him.

“In spite of the fact that he lived in Jacksonville, he provided a great deal of his time and attention and sensitivity to our issues in this area and within our transportation planning area, so this is appropriate to thank him for that because he did go above and beyond in serving this area,” Padgett said.

Mayor Bill Saffo added that Alford was an exceptional public servant. “We would not be able to have completed this trail without his work and efforts,” Saffo said.

Alford’s name will go on a 170-foot bridge and boardwalk across Bradley Creek in College Acres. The bridge starts at the end of Teal Street, crosses the creek headwaters and ends at the edge of the Autumn Hall development.

The N.C. Department of Transportation contributed $250,000 for the project, which cost $267,000. The rest of the money came from the 2006 parks bond.